Enterprise Ireland
Annual Report and Accounts 2007
Annual Report and Accounts 2007
Balanced regional development and thriving entrepreneurship in all parts of Ireland are fundamental to the country’s economic growth, and therefore a key strategic objective for Enterprise Ireland.
Following a number of structural changes in 2007, Enterprise Ireland now has a significant presence in the Mid West region. The integration of Shannon Development’s Irish business development mandate, the establishment of Enterprise Ireland’s National Headquarters for Entrepreneurship and Regional Development in Shannon, and the creation of a City and County Enterprise Board Coordination Unit have further strengthened our presence in the regions and significantly enhanced our ability to address the needs of clients throughout the country.
The City and County Enterprise Board Coordination Unit was set up to facilitate greater cohesion of strategic and operational activities in the enterprise development support we offer to clients. Enterprise Ireland wants to foster higher levels of cooperation between all development bodies in the regions, promote the sharing of knowledge, skills and best practice, and increase cooperation on programmes and initiatives.
During 2007 Enterprise Ireland continued to work with clients throughout the regions in Ireland to support both innovative start-up companies and ambitious established businesses. We also worked in partnership with the regional development bodies to facilitate entrepreneurship in local and rural communities and supported the development of the infrastructure and business space necessary to support new enterprise development.
Balanced regional development was supported in 2007 through total financial approvals of €93.6 million to regionally based client companies.
Enterprise Ireland’s strategy is designed to ensure that opportunities for Irish enterprises and entrepreneurs are maximised throughout all regions and that relevant support is provided at a local level to meet the increasing challenges faced by start-up companies in the global market place.
Entrepreneurial development programmes based in the regions have been instrumental in encouraging start-up businesses and generating high-quality prospects capable of attracting investment money.
In 2007, entrepreneurial development programmes nationally generated 16 high potential start-ups (HPSU) that attracted investment, and 12 of these were outside Dublin. Of the 348 HPSUs Enterprise Ireland has invested in since 2003, 22 per cent came through these programmes.
Enterprise Ireland supported 103 participants on regionally run Enterprise Platform Programmes that target entrepreneurs who have a well thought out innovative business idea. Also in 2007, 115 potential entrepreneurs took part in nine EnterpriseSTART programmes, supported by FÁS. Now in its third year, over 300 potential entrepreneurs have completed 30 EnterpriseSTART programmes in 10 regional locations. A number of the participants on the earlier programmes are now running successful businesses.
Incubation centres provide vital transitional spaces between the research and business worlds and create environments where the commercial potential of third-level R&D can be maximised. Incubation space provides a physical space in which to house and promote entrepreneurship and can greatly improve the survival and growth prospects of start-up campus companies.
Feeding into Enterprise Ireland’s drive for regionally balanced company creation, activity at these centres across the country continued to pick up pace in 2007. By year-end 236 start-up companies were based in these incubators with a total of 903 employed. Of these companies, two thirds were located in centres outside the Dublin region.
A competitive, vibrant private venture capital system is essential to ensuring access to funding for start-up, early stage and development stage businesses. As with all our funding offers, venture capital funds have specific regional mandates and Enterprise Ireland is committed to investing in innovative regionally located enterprises. In November 2007 Minister Micheál Martin announced the establishment of the first venture capital fund to be launched outside of Dublin under Enterprise Ireland’s €175 million Seed and Venture Capital Programme.
The Cork-based Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Partners Fund II comprises a €20 million investment from Enterprise Ireland, €20 million from Bank of Ireland and a further €30 million from private sector investors. The fund is targeted at dynamic Irish companies at all growth stages, across a range of enterprise sectors.
2007 saw the joint development and delivery of a unique cross-border enterprise development programme by Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland. The Boards of both agencies agreed to undertake an enterprise development programme targeted at potential entrepreneurs in the border counties. The TRANSFORM - Ideas into Businesses programme was subsequently developed collaboratively by the two agencies and successfully sought financial support from the Special EU Programmes Body under the Peace II Priority Measure 5.2.
